Wirecard Powers Alipay Payments In Europe

Wirecard and Alibaba are teaming up to ensure Chinese tourists visiting Europe will still have the ability to use Alipay payments at eligible retailers throughout their travels.

The collaboration will promote innovating point of sale (POS) payment acceptance in Europe between Wirecard and Alipay, a business of Ant Financial, a related company of Alibaba. Through the partnership, brands and retailers will have the ability to break into the Chinese tourism market, which the World Tourism Organization estimated was worth nearly $165 billion last year.

“In Wirecard, we have found a strong and flexible partner. Our plan is to enable an easy rollout of our payment and value-added services solution to various merchants in Europe,” Rita Liu, head of Europe of Alipay, said in a press release.

“Our customers have very high trust in our brand as Alipay is an essential part of their daily life. We are therefore confident that many users will be using our new, convenient and cashless offer when traveling to Europe.”

As the largest provider of China’s leading Internet payment solution, Alipay is actively used by 400 million users and owns more than 50 percent of the market share in online payments and 80 percent in mobile, the press release stated.

Chinese users will now be able to make purchases with Alipay on their mobile devices at authorized POS retailers in Europe via an integrated barcode payment functionality from Wirecard and without incurring currency exchange fees.

“We are proud to be Alipay’s one of the first partners for POS acceptance in Europe. With our innovative ConnectedPOS technology, we can easily integrate Alipay payments in Europe without the need to alter POS software or terminal infrastructure,” Jörn Leogrande, EVP at Mobile Services with Wirecard, explained.

“Alipay is the preferred online and mobile payment tool for many Chinese users and merchants. This cooperation unlocks further sales potential from the growth market of Chinese tourists and business people. After a successful start, we plan to expand our offer for Alipay customers, for example by including integrated tax refund services.”